Issues With Proton Pump Inhibitors-Even Safe Drug Treatments Need to Be Closely Monitored.

Abstract

The reason we seek to introduce drugs into humans is for therapeutic benefit, but in doing so there is also a cost, both financial and in terms of safety risk. Both downsides warrant our attention, especially in challenging economic times where there are many demands upon personal finances, and where health care dollars are so acutely stretched that it is important to question the way in which we spend money on preventing and managing illness. As important as the imperative is to ensure that when we introduce treatment we create a positive overall benefit on the well-being of the individual, at the same time we must forbear from introducing potential for iatrogenic harm. In effect, the physician/pharmacist/patient (and/or caregiver) team need to consult, to determine that any treatment proposed makes sense from a safety and efficacy point of view, as well as from the dollars and cents perspective.